April Update
Well, well, well, what an exciting season it has been thus far for our team and staff! We took some difficult blows out of the gate this year, but we got together, made a plan, and stuck by it.
The tough part is not really knowing for certain if any plan will work. We had to keep believing in each other, as a team and a staff, and expect the plan to work!
Lloyd Carr is a man that I have incredible respect for! He always represented to me the ideal in terms of perspective, character, and integrity. I asked him to come up to practice and speak to the team before we went to the Big Ten Championship and he said he would be honored to. He talked to them about the block “M” pride etc… But I think the most important thing he said and the thing that resonated with all of us was his definition of confidence! He said that “confidence is knowing the outcome before you begin”. We used that the entire weekend of Big Ten’s. I would ask them to tell me the definition of confidence and they would repeat those words each time! We had talked a lot about expecting success, and being confident etc… But those words sunk in for all of us and helped us to go into the Big Ten Championship meet and compete knowing we would win. Not cocky just confident, in ourselves, our teammates, and our plan! It was such an exciting meet from start to finish! I believe there was only one fall that had to be counted in the whole meet by any team. Everyone did very well. My hats off to Illinois and Penn State who both pushed us every step of the way! They are great teams with great athletes and had some spectacular performances! The Big Ten is a force to be reckoned with and I am so excited to see what happens this weekend at the different regional sites! It would be fantastic to have 2 or 3 Big Ten teams at the NCAA’s this year in Lincoln.
So about regionals… We are off to Arkansas tomorrow (Thursday afternoon) and we will go up against Stanford, Arkansas, Arizona, Arizona State, and Southern Utah. We must finish as one of the top 2 teams to advance to the NCAA Championship in Lincoln, NE on April 16th-18th. I don’t know how to predict who got a “good” regional placement or who didn’t. The bottom line is you have to hit to have a chance to move on! I think we will be going into this meet with confidence and expecting to advance! If all goes well and we can use the same line up that we had at Big Ten’s, we should be able to challenge any team there. We lucked out and were able to get a direct flight into Fayetteville so that was a plus! I know Arkansas will host a first class championship and we are looking forward to getting there and getting it started!!
Today is our last practice before we go and I have a little something else up my sleeve that I think will send us off with fire in our eyes! Regardless of the outcome, I am so proud of this team and what they have accomplished this season!! They are already champions in my book!!
Go Blue!!
Bev